Risk your life while stepping onto Pedestrial Crossings
by YashvinToday, I will be blogging about “La gentillesse des chauffards” near Pedestrian Crossings and the dangerous spot in front of Champs de Mars…
Did it ever happened to you that no driver stops their vehicle to allow you to cross the road on a pedestrian crossing???
Some of them ignore you even if you have already started to walk on the crossing…
Although it is one of the first things you learn in a driving school, it is very common to see many drivers do not respect the pedestrians, some of them even speed up when seeing people waiting at pedestrian crossings, in fear that they might be late by some seconds…
Its important to add here that, this is a breach to the law and a police officer can fine you if you dont stop at those pedestrian crossings…
LOL! Police officers!
Consider this particular spot in Port Louis, the Square Sir Edouard Nairac, at the entrance of Champ De Mars…
Its known as an “All way stop” (BIG thanks to my colleague Bernard for this word),
An all-way stop is an intersection system used [...], where traffic approaching it from all directions is required to stop before proceeding through the intersection. Such intersections are most often found in the form of a 4-way stop, [...]
A motorist approaching an all-way stop is always required to come to a full stop. After a full-stop has been made, all vehicles present at any point of the intersection have the right-of-way to proceed through the intersection in the order they have reached the intersection; if two or more vehicles arrive at the same time the driver on the left yields to the driver on the righ
For those who regularly go to bet for races at Champs De Mars, they might tell you how dangerous this particular spot can be… especially with the presence of a pre-primary school + another primary school, just at 10metres from this point…
Trying to cross the road at the pedestrian crossings can be “un parcours du combattant”.
You can only rely on responsible drivers who will stop their vehicles and allow you to cross the road safely…
Hundreds of children use those 3 pedestrian crossings daily, and still, NO POLICE OFFICER or ANY TRAFFIC LIGHTS to coordinate the flow of vehicles… A vehicle might have stopped to allow you cross the road, but at anytime, you can see another one coming from the opposite direction!!!
Its a real shame for the authorities if they haven’t done anything yet to care for the safety of the pedestrians.
Just take a look at those pics below, some of them are self explanatory.
On the 2nd picture:
The ‘tractor’ is in the middle of the intersection, the white van is turning to its left, the 4×4 is turning to its right, where is the sense of PRIORITY???
Some irresponsible drivers…
What would it cost for the authorities (Police and Municipality) to put a police officer on that intersection during peak times where the small children go to school, and leave for their house???
What about installing traffic lights??? It is that costly for this strategic point???
I am sure that thousands of vehicles must be passing this point everyday.
Lets hope that the above authorities will not simply place some speed breakers (humps) just like in various places where someone gets killed on a particular spot…
Any comments on your behalf???
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